Lawyer Monthly Magazine - September 2021 Edition

MONTHLY ROUND-UP The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refiled its complaint against Facebook, arguing that the company should be broken up and Instagram and WhatsApp should be sold off. Blue Origin, the space venture owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, filed a complaint against NASA over the agency’s decision to award the lunar lander contract to its competitor SpaceX. BEZOS’S BLUE ORIGIN SUES NASA OVER SPACEX MOON CONTRACT Blue Origin has filed a suit with the US Court of Federal Claims, arguing that the con- tract was unfairly awarded to SpaceX. In a statement, Blue Origin said: “We firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes must be addressed to restore fairness, create competition, and ensure a safe return to the Moon for America.” The human landing system (HLS) contract, informally referred to as the moon contract or lunar lander con- tract, was awarded to SpaceX, owned by Bezos’s billionaire rival Elon Musk, in April of this year. The contract is worth approximately $2.9 billion. Since losing the contract in April, Blue Origin has fought resolutely to have the deci- sion reversed. The company filed a protest with the Gov- ernment Accountability Of- fice, but the watchdog chose to uphold NASA’s decision. In July, NASA administrator Bill Nelson received an open letter from Bezos, stating that he would waive up to $2 bil- lion in contract payments for the first two years if the agen- cy agreed to add Blue Origin’s lunar lander to a key phrase of its HLS programme. NASA said it was aware of Blue Origin’s lawsuit and that it was reviewing the case. LM FTC ASKS FACEBOOK TO SELL INSTAGRAM ANDWHATSAPP INMAJOR ANTITRUST CASE The FTC’s revised complaint, which is partly redacted, alleges that tech giant Facebook has a monopoly over social networking within the United States and argues that Facebook has deliberately made it difficult for other companies to compete. The FTC’s filing also asks that the complaint be sealed for ten days. This new antitrust case by the FTC comes amid increased scrutiny over the influence of Facebook and the way it has bought up its competitors. The case references a 2008 email from Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, in which he writes: “It is better to buy than compete.” Lawyers representing the FTC claim that the tech giant acted in accordance with this strategy, buying out rivals as soon as they became successful enough to be considered a threat. Amongst these purchases are Instagram and WhatsApp, which both make up a significant part of the Facebook company. The FTC argues that Facebook should be forced to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC has also requested that Facebook be restricted from making similar purchases in the future. LM 7 SEP 2021 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM